Expectations
by Eternal Anime Fan
Summary: When Natsu returns, Magnolia is not anything like he expected it would be... SPOILERS for chapter 416!


When Natsu eventually retuned to Magnolia, he expected to see most of the town rebuilt and the Fairy Tail guild restored. He expected to throw the guild doors open with a bang and be greeted by the sight of familiar faces that would morph from shock to joy as they threw a party to welcome him home. He expected to see Lucy, hands over her mouth as she tried to control her sobs and when she ran over to him those tears would have the company of her truly happiest smile as she told him welcome home.

When he shared his expectations with Happy, Happy just grimaced and remarked on how Lucy was more likely to welcome them home with a 'Lucy Kick!' for leaving her for a little over a year.

They both laughed, too high on the euphoria of finally returning _home_ and seeing _nakama_ and seeing _Lucy_ after all this time.

What Natsu did not expect when he reached the top of the hill that overlooked Magnolia, however, was the town in even worse shape than he had left it in. As panic and confusion set in and they had raced into town to find someone, anyone to explain what was going on and why did the town never got rebuilt, but… they couldn't find anyone, not even using Natsu's nose.

Natsu and Happy both felt fear clench their hearts as they headed in the direction where the guild had last stood before the explosion.

Natsu dropped to his knees and he looked at the ruined tatters of his home in a giant crater.

"Why….?"

"Natsu? Natsu what's going on? I don't like this! Where's the guild, Natsu? Where is everyone?" Happy pleaded, yanking on Natsu's vest as tears streamed from his eyes.

Natsu didn't react to his exceed's cries as he continued to stare at the wreckage, feeling completely numb.

Where was his guild? Where was Gray and Erza and Mira at the bar and-

"LUCY!" Natsu suddenly screamed, sprinting towards his next destination before even being completely aware that he had risen to his feet.

He finally stopped, gasping for breath as he stood in front of her apartment building on Strawberry Street.

Or at least what _used _to be her apartment, now nothing, but a pile of rubble and wood.

Before he could truly process the sight in front of him, Natsu's nose twitched, having just found a familiar scent.

"Oi! Natsu, look who I found near the guild!" He suddenly heard Happy exclaim, the exceed's voice rising in volume as he flew closer, a thin figure clutched in his paws.

"Max! Good to see you buddy! What's going on around here, where is everyone?" _Where's Lucy?_

"Natsu….." The tattered figure trailed off, looking away from the dragonslayer's eyes.

"Max?"

"There gone Natsu, I'm the only one left." The Max-smelling figure whispered, trembling in oversized, tattered clothes.

"Oi, oi, what do you mean gone?" Natsu laughed, not comprehending the scene playing out before him.

"Max, what's going on? This isn't funny anymore…. We're back just like we said we would be and we're a lot stronger now too!" Happy tried to say through tears and a broken smile.

"Sorry, Happy, sorry, Natsu. I know you probably weren't expecting things to be like this on returning after so long…. But things changed quickly after you left, Natsu, very quickly. Lucy came to us crying on how you'd left to train without her and then the master announced that not only were we not going to rebuild the guild, but that Fairy Tail was disbanded!" Max said, eyes screwed shut as tears pooled in the corners of his eyes but refused to fall.

"Stop lying! Gramps would never say something like that!" Natsu bellowed, grabbing Max by the front of his dirty and torn shirt.

"I'm not lying! Look around you Natsu! This town is gone! Fairy Tail is GONE!"

Natsu let the fists filled with Max's shirt unclench slowly, trying to take in what his old guildmate was trying to tell him.

"Where….?" Natsu whispered, trailing off as his voice caught in his suddenly desert-dry throat.

"I don't know. I don't know where everyone is. Gray and Juvia went off together somewhere on some self-determined missing to take down E.N.D. and then Gajeel, and Lily, and Team Shadowgear all left to train together, although I heard rumors that Jet and Droy eventually separated from them. Elfman needed to do some soul searching and Mira and Lissana decided they would go with him to make sure he didn't hurt himself out of guilt. Erza, Wendy, and Charlie went off somewhere together too, and Laxus left with his group to go train like you did! I don't know what anyone else is up to, but everyone left at one point or another over the last year. Up until yesterday Nab was still here with me, refusing to leave but even he told me Fairy Tail was over and we had to move on with our lives… He left yesterday morning and now I'm the only person left."

"What about…?" _What about Lucy? Where is Lucy?_

Max seemed to understand, even if Natsu couldn't get his voice to come out of his throat any longer. He took a large inhale of air as if to muster up the strength to speak his next words.

"Lucy disappeared, no one knows what happened to her."

Natsu felt dizzy, like he suddenly had forgotten how to breath, his lungs trying to get air, but not succeeding as whatever creature was tearing his insides out suddenly grew ten times heavier. The only thing Natsu was vaguely aware of was the small, shaking form of Happy on his head, and the water he could feel splashing into his hair.

"A week after you left and the guild was disbanded, we realized that no one had seen her for days. She was a wreck you know, first losing her precious Aquarius-"

"What do you mean she lost Aquarius?" Natsu yelled, horrified at the news.

"During the fight with Tartaros, she had to sacrifice Aquarius's key to summon the Spirit King she said!"

Max said, looking a little frightened of the sudden rage pouring off of Natsu.

"Natsu, does that mean we left her right after she lost that fish-lady?" Happy sniffled, voice quivering.

Natsu couldn't contain his rage as his right fist became covered in flame before pounding into the ground beneath him.

"I can't believe we left her like that." _I didn't know Lucy, I'm so sorry!_

Her spirits were everything to her, and to lose one of her oldest like that… Aquarius out of all of them!

"Y-yeah, well after losing Aquarius, and then you guys right after she was pretty out of it, but the when master declared the disbanding of the guild it was almost like something broke inside of her, man. It was really scary, I've never seen anyone's eyes look so dead… We realized she had disappeared when Erza went to her apartment to check in on her, but she found it like this." Max gestured to the pile of rubble in front of them.

The landlady told us that the foundation was severely weakened during the attack and while they had a little warning in time to get out, the building just collapsed it seems. The landlady said that Lucy took one look at the wreckage and just walked off, no tears, no words, no even visible reaction, she just walked away. No one has seen her sense then… I think Erza and Wendy decided to look for her and that's why they left, but from what I heard they were never able to even find a trace of her. I'm so sorry, Natsu, but that's all the information I have."

"Thank you, Max. I'm glad at least you were here to tell me…" Natsu managed to say, his mind still reeling from all the news he had just been given.

"Y-you know, Natsu, I hate to bring this up, but after she disappeared without a trace like that a lot of us speculated that she might have k-"

"Say one more word, Max, and I don't know what I might do, even if you are nakama." Natsu growled out, both fists suddenly ablaze in orange and crimson.

Max gulped and nodded.

"What are you going to do now, Natsu?" Max asked, his eyes still not able to look directly into Natsu's own onyx pair.

"That's the only easy answer right now, I suppose." Natsu chuckled humorlessly.

"I'm going to find Lucy."

* * *

><p>I can't even describe what happened here... All I know is that my feelings were rampaging after reading 416 and I honestly needed a way to get them out. I was really angry at Natsu for leaving Lucy and I don't think he would have considered it if he knew about Aquarius and the guild disbanding. I also noticed how many cracks in the walls of Lucy's apartment there were when I reread the chapter, and thought that it wouldn't be too far of a stretch if it collapsed. I also was going to originally have this be a suicide fic for poor Lucy who literally lost her whole world (e.i. Fairy Tail, Natsu, Happy, Aquarius) in only a few days, but someone it just didn't end up like that? I also struggled for a while on who would be the messenger for Natsu and Happy and for whatever reason I decided Max was the best choice. Anyway I wrote this in less than 2 hours after struggling with the feels all day so this isn't my best piece of work and it is not edited so I apologize for that. This is my first fic in years and my first Fairy Tail fic (which I love only 2nd to One Piece) so please review, especially if you just want to gush about your feels and predictions after reading 416. At least Natsu being END at least explains why he wasn't able to leave the rune barrier with the age limit that Laxus had Freed erect when he first appeared. END is over 400 years old after all, although why Gajeel couldn't escape is still a mystery... either END had companions or maybe they were counted as 'too old' because they had really old dragons inside their bodies? I don't really know but please share your thoughts both on the chapter and on my fic!<p> 


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